Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-07-13
WEDNESDAY, JULY IS, 1887
PRIVATIONS OF WAR.
.iARDSHIPs or Al FAMILY in THE
II WOODS or, LOUISIANA. 80

.iARDsHiPs or A FAMILY IN THE
WooPs or LOUISIANA.
Home Life IN Deserted and Resources
less Country with Hardly Man Len
In 1.-THE Food Question Serious
One.
We started out upon the privations Of
the war just after disastrous fire that
swept away all those ante bellum accumu.
lationS that proved of such inestimabla
value to all fortunate possessors, SO we
did not even have the advantage Of b
gradual decline, but just bumped down
suddenly, as it were, from the soft bed OF
ease to the hard floor Of discomfort.
Upon the fall Of New Orleans we ssrefu-
geed" about fifty miles above the city on
the jackson railroad, as it was then called.
The country around us was very thinly
settled, the people generally poor, igno-
rant and primitive, and seemed as strange
to us as we scity folks did to them. Oh,
those strange, dark days of sswar times, =
they linger yet in my memory like some
weird, vivid dream. Part of the time my
father was with us and part Of it in the
army, but his presence or absence made
little real difference IN our condition. He
being a delicate city bred man was almost
as helpless in that beating storm of hard.
ships and deprivations as my young in
experienced mother and her brood OF
young children. And as the years went
BY and the war cloud settled down darker
and deeper all over the land, and times
grew harder and harder everywhere, il
told all the hardships and struggles Of
those days fear some of it would be
taken for Munchausen like exaggeration.
It was q lonely, deserted, resourceless
country, with hardly man left in it, and
how some of those families of women and
children managed to live at all is mys-
terry to me. think we came as near liv-
ing on nothing as mortals ever did,
though my mother and q young sister OF
hers who lived with Us had their share Of
that hard and brave struggle for which
our southern women are SO rightfully hOn-
Ored throughout the length and breadth OF
the land Ever article Of beauty or
value that had et :aped the fire was sold
or traded for the necessaries Of life. One
Of my brothers, a little fellow about IL
years old, walked to Clinton, La, about
fifty miles, believe, carrying in his arms
q handsome guitar Of my mothers, which
was sold to an officer OF the garrison
there, who also bought from her o pair of
huge silver mounted dueling pistols, heir
looms, which we children saw go with ex-
treme regret, as they were objects OF our
lifelong awe and admiration, though we
grew accustomed to seeing many other OBJ
jects OF value depart In the same way.
In fact, we sold everything that any one
could be induced to buy. We had large
tin bath tub, round, and painted green,
and q well to do farmer having expressed
q desire to buy.it for the tin, the little
boys were promptly dispatched with it,
and my aunt went along to make the bar
gain. The presumptive purchaser lived
two or three miles distant, and the, boys
rolled the tub there like hoop. Upon
closer inspection he decided that it would
not DO for what he wanted, and so they
had to roll it back again "a labor not ac-
complished without considerable loss OF
temper and green paint.
NV neither and aunt grew very prof.
cient In making palmetto hats, and sold
great many, my two little brothers carry
inc them to the nearest town, which was
tan miles distant. remember once when
4 lot Of hats were ready they roso early
TINT morning and found the ground COW
Grad with stoW--the only snow ever saw
IN I.ouisiana-but they insisted upon
going. and shouldering their bag OF hats
st.rted ont cheerfully on their twenty
mile walk. thinly clad and without shoes.
on their return that night they found
thew had left their little dog In town, and
the next morning one Of the boys. Went